Orthodontic brackets, often referred to as “braces”, are devices which are normally and selectively affixed to the teeth of an individual, by the use of cement or another type of bonding agent, and are adapted to selectively receive a wire which is formed and deployed in the brackets (e.g., in the mouth of a patient) in order to provide therapeutic force or pressure on the patient's teeth. The combination of the brackets and the wire are often sometimes collectively referred to as a “retaining system” or an “orthodontic retaining system”.
While such prior and currently utilized retaining systems do allow therapeutic pressure to be applied to a patient's teeth, they suffer from some drawbacks.
By way of example and without limitation, as the therapy is applied to the patient (i.e., over time) modifications may need to be made to the brackets or different brackets may be optimally needed. This “bracket modification” or “replacement” is complicated and time consuming because the currently utilized brackets must be forcibly removed from the patient's teeth (e.g., removed from the cement or adhering agent), the teeth must be cleaned and “re-prepped” (an etching agent and a new application of an adhering agent must be deployed on the teeth), and the new or modified brackets must be deployed on the newly prepped teeth. The process is uncomfortable to the patient and is relatively costly due to the need for additional etching and adhesive material and the time needed to achieve the change or modification. Moreover, sometimes the deployed brackets become broken or are in need of repair and must be removed from the patient's teeth to become serviced, thereby requiring the same sort of afore-described process and relatively the same sort of cost and discomfort.
Further, it may be therapeutically desirable to deploy different sorts or types of brackets upon the teeth of a patient within a relatively short amount of time due to the needs of the patient and such “rapid bracket deployment” undesirably and greatly increases the cost and discomfort to the patient. Further, different sorts of brackets may be used on a patient, within a certain time, just in order for a orthodontist to evaluate the efficacy of these deployed brackets on a certain patient and discover the bracket type which may provide optimal therapy on a particular patient (i.e., each patient may experience different amounts and types of therapy with a certain bracket). Non-limiting examples of orthodontic brackets are found within United States Patent Application Publication Numbers US2005/0255422 A1, US2002/0058227 A1, and US2004/0157184 A1 which are each fully and completely incorporated herein by reference, word for word and paragraph for paragraph.
There is therefore a need for a new and improved connector assembly which allows brackets and orthodontic retaining systems to be easily, quickly, and cost effectively deployed upon the teeth of a patient and it is one non-limiting object of the present invention to provide such an improved connector system.